Concentrating alkaline solutions



I 1w Model.) ham-sh en 1Q H. BURGESS. Concentrating Alkaline Solutions No. 229,090. Patent-ed June 22,1880.

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' H. BURGESS I I Concentrating Alkaline-"Solutions. 1

v No. 229,090. Patented June 22,1880.

mPx-IQRS. PHOTO-LITHQGRAFHER, WASHINGTON. m0.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUGH BURGESS, ROYERS FORD, PENNSYLVANIA.

CONCENTRATING ALKALINE SOLUTIONS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 229,090, dated Application filed April 12, 1880.

ject of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland,

residing at Royers Ford, in the county of Montgomery and State of Pennsylvania, have invented'an Improved Mode of Concentrating Alkaline Solutions, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the evaporation and concentration of alkaline solutions and other liquids and it consists in causing the same to trickle down circuitous passages or channels in the presence of heated air or products of -combustion which are induced to take the same downward course, substantially as de-- scribed hereinafter, the object of my invention being the intimate and effective association of the said heated air or products of combustion with the liquid and the concentration of the latter at a comparatively small expense of fuel.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1, Sheetl, is a vertical section of apparatus whereby my invention may be carried into efiect; Fig.2, Sheet 2, a sectional plan on the line 1 2; and Fig. 3, a sectional plan on the line 3 4.

I erect on a suitable foundation, 00, a vessel, or, as it is technically termed, a tower, B, which is preferably cylindrical and made of plate-iron. When the apparatus is used for concentrating the alkaline solutions from pulpdigesters I prefer to make this tower about seventeen feet high and about three feet in diameter; but it will be understood that it is not necessary to adhere to these dimensions.

A chamber, D, is formed in the lower portion of the tower by a transverse perforated partition, (1, through which the liquid concentrated in the manner described hereinafter escapes from the tower into the said chamber, whence it passes through an opening, a, into the reservoir '1 surrounding the lower portion of the said tower, the height of the liquid in this reservoir being determined by the outletpipe (1, and the liquid serving to seal the chamber D and prevent the access of air thereto from below.

A furnace, A, is built on a floor or foundation, 0, at such an altitude above the lower floor, as, that the flue h of the furnace shall be above the cover f of the tower, with the inte- J'uile 22, 1880,

(No model.)

rior of which the said flue h communicates through a vertical flue, 'i, and through a central opening in the said cover, the fluet' being closed at the top by a plate, through which passes the pipe 7a for conveying the liquid to be concentrated into the interior of the tower.

The furnace A is, in the present instance, of ordinary construction. It has the usual fireplace m, grate n, and ash-pit below the grate, also the usual openings to the said fire-place and ash-pit, and doors for the said openings, the flues h and i being formed in an extension of the furnace-structure, which extension is built on the top of the tower.

It may be remarked here that furnaces differing from that described may be used as part of the apparatus. A special furnace for burning petroleum may, for instance, be employed,

-or appliances for the combustion of gases may be used, all that is essential, as regards this feature of the apparatus, being aconstant supply of highly-heated gases or air having free access to the interior of the tower at the top of the same.

An exhaust-pipe, P, from an exhaust-fan, F, passes through the side of the tower, within which, at a central point, the pipe is bent downward, as shown in the drawings, the products of combustion or heated air and the vapor due to evaporation being received into the casin g of the fan and being discharged therefrom through the pipe 0, which may, if desired, communicate with anyneighboring chimney.

It is not necessary to adhere to a fan in carrying out my invention, for the desired end may be attained by any exhausting appliances.

From the perforated partition 01 to the top, or nearly to the top, of the tower the latter is filled with loose pieces of such material as will resist the action of the products of combustion and that of the liquid to be evaporated. Bricks may be used for this purpose, as shown in Fig. 1, the bricks being so arranged as to present numerous interstices, which afford free but very circuitous passages, the spaces between the bricks of the upper layers being preferably larger than the spaces between those of the lower layers; or, in place of brick, rubble or broken stones or coke may be thrown indiscriminately into the tower, where, owing to irregularity in shape and size, they will present the desired interstices and intricate passages.

When the apparatus is in operation there is a constant flow of the solution to be concentrated into the top of the tower, whence it trickles downward through the many channels formed by the bricks in the tower until the iqnid finally escapes in a concentrated condition through the perforations in the partition (I. At the same time the products of combustion or heated air are induced by the exhausting mechanism to take the same downward course, every small stream of theliquid being thus accompanied with aportion of the said products, and the heat thus imparted to the liquid, together with that which it receives from the heated bricks, must have a most effective evaporatinginfluence 011 the said liquid This induced downward course of the products of combustion through numerous and circuitous channels, and in the presence of the liquid which must take the same course, is the gist and distinctive feature of my invention.

The prominent advantage of this method of evaporating and concentrating liq uids is as follows: The exhausting action of the fan is continuous, and the inhaled heated air and gases are compelled, in their downward course, to penetrate every opening and cranny as the colder air is withdrawn. Thus every portion of the mass of brick-work must be exposed to the descending hot air and gases, the loss of heat in the latter as they descend being represented by an equivalent heating and evaporation of the liquids.

By regulating the speed of the fan the descent of the heated air and gases can be so or dered that they will impart the maximum amount of heat to the escaping liquid.

This liquid and the vapor and gases which escape or are withdrawn from the bottom of the tower should not be much above a temperature of 212 Fahrenheit, the temperature varying with the specific gravity of the escaping liquid at the bottom of the tower.

During the forced descent of the gases through the mass of moistened bricks no heat can be lost by an escape of some of the more highly-heated gases into the open air, as only the coolest substratum of heated gases and vapor at the bottom of the tower can be re moved by the exhaust-fan.

I claim as my invention- The mode herein described of concentrating liquids, the said mode consisting in causing the liquid to trickle down circuitous passages or channels in the presence of heated air or products of combustion which are induced to take the same downward course, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HUGH BURGESS.

Witnesses:

JAMES F. ToBIN, HARRY SMITH. 

